What is censorship? When did it occur in the Indian History?
Answers
Answer:Censorship in India is defined within behaviours, political affiliations, twitter comments, media outlets, and archaic laws such as The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, which has been used to prosecute a woman found with “Maoist leaflets”.Censorship in India is defined within behaviours, political affiliations, twitter comments, media outlets, and archaic laws such as The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, which has been used to prosecute a woman found with “Maoist leaflets”. Even though the High Court of Bombay, in a separate case, ruled that the possession of propaganda from a banned organisation was not sufficient proof for indictment.
Censorship is exercised through legislation such as Section 95 of the CCP which has the power to declare certain publications forfeited and to issue search warrants for the same. Where-
(a) any newspaper, or book, or
(b) any document, wherever printed, appears to the State Government to contain any matter the publication of which is punishable under section 124A or section 153A or section 153B or section 292 or section 293 or section 295A of the Indian Penal Code (45 of 1860 ), the State Government may, by notification, stating the grounds of its opinion, declare every copy of the issue of the newspaper containing such matter, and every copy of such book or other documents to be forfeited to Government.
These are extreme rights given to the State Government with respect to censorship, which cannot be practiced against any media outlet without fulfilling sufficient grounds of reason. However, in these circumstances, the reason is very rarely employed. Similarly, section 124A of the IPC criminalizes sedition under the clause, whoever, by words, either spoken or written, or by signs, or by visible representation, or otherwise, brings or attempts to bring into hatred or contempt, or excites or attempts to excite disaffection towards the Government.
Criminalizing sedition is a powerful tool for accelerating self-censorship since there is very little objectivity in determining what is seditious and what is scrutiny. Any scrutiny or opposition to the government could easily qualify as being seditious. Sedition should specifically apply only to hatred against the nation, and the government of a nation is a representative of the nation, not the equivalent of it. Hence, I believe that criminalizing sedition is one of the greatest barriers to free speech in a democracy where ‘free’ is a relative concept.
Section 153A of the IPC is another vaguely worded clause which criminalizes any speech that raises questions or objections against a person in the opposition. Section 292 of the IPC prohibits the sale of books that are classified as ‘obscene’.
Also read: The Blurred Line Between Sedition And Dissent In India
What we need to understand here is that it is very easy to be prosecuted or censored in India, since most of the laws can be easily manipulated and fit into convenient narratives. It is important to be aware of the legislation concerning censorship and to know that if news channels or persons or books are censored, they could’ve been anything from ‘very unacceptable’ to ‘mildly in opposition of the status quo’.
Censorship is practiced by institutions such as the CBFC (Central Bureau of Film Certification), established under The Cinematograph Act, 1952. The CBFC is a film regulatory body which not only adheres to primitive standards of censorship but is also rigid about these standards. The CBFC dismissed the Shyam Benegal Committee Report on amendments to the laws applying to CBFC.
The Press Council of India is another institution which does not directly practice censorship but has often addressed issues concerning the same.
Censorship is practiced on television, as well. In 1995, the Parliament enacted the Cable Television Act which awarded vast powers to the government, they have the right to ban cable operators as well as news channels. For example, NDTV was banned for a day by the Government of India, back in November 2016.
Answer:
In general, censorship in India, which involves the suppression of speech or other public communication, raises issues of freedom of speech, which is protected by the Indian constitution.
Explanation:
censorship occurred India in 1952